Carter Wrenn
Gary Pearce
War Games
Presidents and Secretaries of Defense have a history of lying to us about wars. Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara lied about Vietnam. George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now we’re expected to believe two of the biggest liars in history – Donald Trump and his…
Another School Study? Yes.
Some progressives groaned when Governor Josh Stein announced a bipartisan “Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Education” last week. “Does NC Really Need Another Commission to Study Public Education?” asked Public Schools First NC. Yes, we do – if we want to break the political logjam that has blocked education progress in North Carolina for too…
Independents Turn Against GOP
North Carolina voters don’t like either the Democratic or Republican parties. But Independent voters – who are the key swing voters and who will decide the 2026 election – really, really dislike the GOP. That’s good news for Democrats this year. The poll we did last month of 1,069 voters across the state found they…
Getting the News
How do you get your news? Our statewide poll asked North Carolina voters what their primary sources of news are (Question 51 – see more below). They said: 29% Online news websites 26% TV (broadcast or network) 20% Social media Sad to say, only 5% said their primary sources are once-mighty newspapers like The News…
MAGA-gator
Thom Tillis and Phil Berger fed the MAGA alligator. Then it ate them. Thomas Mills wrote at PoliticsNC that, “In January 2011, State Senator Phil Berger and then-State Representative Thom Tillis entered the North Carolina political stage at the same time. As Republicans took control of the legislature for the first time in more than…
Enough is Enough
Exactly 80 years ago, in 1946, Republicans took control of Congress with a simple message: “Had enough?” The same slogan is enough for Democrats in 2026. “Had enough” of Trump’s chaos, cruelty, corruption and incompetence? “Had enough” of his lying? And, now, “had enough” of war and rising prices? A columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer,…
Faith in Politics
Jim Hunt would like James Talarico winning the Democratic primary in Texas. Like Talarico, the late Governor was a man of deep faith. He was a churchgoer all his life. He and Carolyn Hunt were at Wilson’s First Presbyterian Church nearly every Sunday. They sang in the choir. When the Governor started his Smart Start…
Stein’s Clout
Governor Josh Stein had a good day Tuesday, and there’s good news for him in our statewide poll. (See more about the poll below.) He gets positive ratings. And voters trust him more than they do the Republican General Assembly. Stein and former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper are the only two of more than a…
Too Long
“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade…. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” – General George Patton. Like Liston Ramsey and Marc Basnight before him, Phil Berger…